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Natural Disasters: What Causes Severe Weather

What are Natural Disasters?. Any event which causes significant injuries or deaths or economic impact due to a naturally-occurring phenomenonOften compounded by unintended consequences of human interactions with natureCan be counteracted to some extent by engineering or behavioral changesInclu

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Natural Disasters: What Causes Severe Weather

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    1. Natural Disasters: What Causes Severe Weather? Pam Knox Georgia Assistant State Climatologist February 24, 2011

    2. What are Natural Disasters? Any event which causes significant injuries or deaths or economic impact due to a naturally-occurring phenomenon Often compounded by unintended consequences of human interactions with nature Can be counteracted to some extent by engineering or behavioral changes Includes weather and climate, geological and astronomical events (earthquakes, asteroid hits, solar flares)

    3. What is Severe Weather? The National Weather Service definition of severe weather includes: Tornadoes Hail of greater than 1 inch in diameter (used to be ) Winds of greater than 55 mph More broadly, it is any type of weather that causes injury or death or significant economic losses

    4. Types of Severe Weather Wind phenomena Tornadoes Hurricanes Derechos Severe wind Water phenomena Flash floods Storm surge Ice storms Droughts

    5. Ingredients for Severe Weather from Thunderstorms Source of moisture/humidity for energy source Changes in wind speed and/or direction with height Dynamic forcing such as a cold front

    6. Tornadoes vs. Hail

    7. Risks of Strong Winds in the US

    8. Risks of Damaging Hail in the US Significant hail forms mainly east of the Rockies in the Great Plains. Hail can cause injuries and death but can also destroy crops and damage buildings and vehicles.

    9. Risks of Hurricanes in the US

    10. Risks of Tornadoes in the US

    11. Seasonality of Tornadoes: January

    12. Seasonality of Tornadoes: February

    13. Seasonality of Tornadoes: March

    14. Seasonality of Tornadoes: April

    15. Seasonality of Tornadoes: May

    16. Seasonality of Tornadoes: June

    17. Seasonality of Tornadoes: July

    18. Seasonality of Tornadoes: August

    19. Seasonality of Tornadoes: September

    20. Seasonality of Tornadoes: October

    21. Seasonality of Tornadoes: November

    22. Seasonality of Tornadoes: December

    23. Tornado Climatology

    24. Ingredients for Localized Flooding

    25. Thanks for listening! You can contact Pam Knox at pknox@uga.edu, 706-542-6067

    26. Number of tornado watches per year

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